Fate: Crystal Cross
by bluecucco
Summary: Training in the magic of parallel worlds, Rin Tohsaka finds that her experimentation has led to a problem, and now spirits of other worlds are joining a new Holy Grail War. A massive crossover of 8 different series, from Death Note to Gurren Lagann.
1. Prologue: One Year Ago

Author's Note:

The beginning of Fate/Crystal Cross takes place roughly 15 years after the canonical end to _Fate/Stay Night_ (i.e., the True End of _Heaven's Feel_ in the visual novel). Spoilers for this route are included in the text. In later chapters, you can also expect spoilers for _Inuyasha_, _Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (StrikerS)_, _Buso Renkin_, _Gurren Lagann_, _Death Note_, _Dragon Ball Z_, and _Slayers_.

The idea behind this fan fiction was to bring some of the most powerful characters in popular anime series together in a reasonable way (and yes, I am aware that "reasonable" is a relative term and not terribly appropriate for this big of a crossover). Employing the Second Magic of the Nasuverse (the universe that includes the _Fate_ series) enabled me to give at least some excuse to try this idea out. I appreciate anyone who's willing to swallow the explanation and join me on this crossover adventure, and hope you enjoy it.

Prologue: One Year Ago

Rin Tohsaka found him praying alone in a room she well remembered. He was burning incense sticks, and their cloying scent permeated the air. The incense burned in front of a photograph of a young girl with red eyes and snow-white hair. Ilyasviel von Einzbern's last months had been happy ones, in spite of all the hardships that came before and the fading away at the end. Even Rin remembered her fondly.

Quietly, she slid the door closed behind her and went to kneel next to Shirou. He didn't react to her presence at first, and so she took a moment to examine him.

In spite of his artificial body, he had aged just like she had; like they all had. He was still in his mid thirties, but she saw a few strands of grey in his hair. What hadn't changed lay in the intensity of his concentration, his furrowed brow, and his slight frown as he prayed intently.

Smiling, Rin turned to Ilya's picture and closed her eyes as well. She didn't think of Ilya, but instead reflected on all the things that had happened since the last time she visited Fuyuki, and since she had left to study with Zeltretch after the War… it felt strange to be here again. When _had_ she last visited? It must have been at least six years ago. She hadn't visited more than twice before this. Perhaps she'd visited only once. Perhaps it wasn't six years since she'd been here, but longer.

"I thought you were Sakura."

Rin opened her eyes and looked at Shirou carefully. Now he was smiling, and that particular smile—so pure and optimistic—made her chest ache. It was an ache she would never acknowledge, but an ache nevertheless.

"Sakura's already in the kitchen," she replied. "She hardly even gave me the chance to say hello before insisting on making tea." Rin ran her fingers through her hair. It was a habit she'd never gotten out of.

Shirou laughed good-naturedly and stood up, extending a hand down to her. "Then we shouldn't keep her waiting."

"I suppose so." Rin took the proffered hand and accepted Shirou's assistance in returning to her feet. "It's good to see you."

When they returned to the living room for tea, she was greeted by the familiar purple-haired Rider. _This_ was someone who had not physically changed. If not for Rider's strong magical presence and the square pupils that hid behind her glasses, it would be difficult to regard her as the powerful Servant she really was. Sakura soon came from the kitchen with a pot of tea freshly brewed, and they all sat down to exchange stories and catch up with recent, trivial happenings. Rin had sworn secrecy about her work with the Second Magic, so she let Shirou and Sakura provide the majority of the conversation while she and Rider listened politely. There was talk of a possible adoption, of changes in the town, of television programs, of newly perfected recipes. And so the afternoon passed pleasantly, and Rin had to give little more than appropriate commentary and an assurance that yes, she would be staying for the night.

As it turned out, that night in another world, another Rin Tohsaka made a mistake that hundreds of thousands of Rins in hundreds of thousands of worlds had made before her: she tested a new blade to open a rift between parallel worlds. The single slash of that blade was one cut too many, and this time the rift didn't entirely close. The Rin visiting Shirou in Fuyuki could not have noticed the small amount of mana leaking into her world from another, nor could she have suspected that the outflow would only grow worse and bring in more, unsavory complications later.


	2. 1: Edelfelt and Einzbern

A/N: This chapter introduces the canonical characters Luviagelita Edelfelt (the _Fate_series) and Soya Muto (_Buso Renkin_), along with three original characters who will be the only "main" original characters I plan to incorporate. Thanks for reading, and extra thanks for people who have added me to story alerts and who submit reviews!

Chapter 1: Edelfelt and Einzbern

Luvia entered an empty workspace in the Clock Tower and set down the small, heavy chest that Kischur Zeltretch Schweinorg had given her. Being approached by Rin's master had been completely unexpected, but even more unexpected was the story he told her about parallel worlds and the Holy Grail.

Locking the door behind her, the head of the Edelfelt family sat down in front of the small chest and unhooked the clasp holding it closed with deft fingers. Lifting the lid revealed a rough, spherical stone, light in color, and notable for having no notable qualities whatsoever. Frowning, Luvia lifted the stone from the cushioned inside of the box and looked it over, searching for any distinguishing marks, cracks, or other signs of significance. She found nothing. She lifted it close to her ear and shook it, but nothing seemed to rattle inside. Judging by the weight and texture of the stone, it was solid throughout.

"I wonder…" She sat back in the chair and attempted to recall tales she'd heard of heroes and round stones like this one. There were tales of magic rocks, boulders, and pebbles, and then there were tales of various crystal, jewel, or metal spheres. But spheres of plain stone? Nothing came to mind.

She sighed and retuned the stone to its chest, closing the lid and securing the clasp with a click. "Not that it matters." She had the artifact, and even knew the type of Servant she could use it to summon. It wasn't the most elegant of the seven classes, but she suspected that it would give her an edge: after all, no other spirit had the sheer physical power of Berserker.

Standing up, Luvia headed towards a bookshelf at the back of the room. There was a mirror on the wall between her and the shelf, and she stopped for a moment to look in it. Her blue dress was clean and unwrinkled, her orange-blonde hair was curled into perfect, stylish ringlets and, to her surprise, her fair, unblemished face was flushed. She hadn't realized how much the encounter with Zeltretch affected her composure.

Taking a deep breath, she passed the mirror and continued to the bookshelf, from which she pulled an atlas and a leather-bound volume whose title was stamped in Kanji. She returned to the desk on which Zeltretch's chest sat and settled back into her chair, taking up the atlas and flipping through until she found a section highlighting Japan. From there she turned some more pages until she located a map of a particular area within the country. One of the cities on the page was labeled "Fuyuki."

"I'll be sure to join you shortly, Rin," Luviagelita whispered, setting the open atlas aside and turning her attention to the leather-bound book, instead.

* * *

Elsewhere, in one of the dormitories used by students of the Clock Tower, Alex Scott finished reading a letter. He returned the expensive, heavy paper to its equally expensive envelope and tossed it into the fireplace. After watching it crumple, blacken, and burn up in the flames, he returned to his desk and picked up a second, unopened letter. This one was addressed to him from a certain Anthony Scott in the United States.

Taking up a letter opener, the young man slit open the envelope and removed the contents: a piece of lined notebook paper filled front and back with the familiar handwriting of his younger brother. They weren't related by blood, but Alex felt closer to his brother than to anyone else he knew.

He settled down at the desk and began to read, a sentimental smile coming to his face as his red eyes scanned the page. He twirled a lock of hair around his finger absentmindedly. He needed to get it cut, but he always hated how barbers reacted to its naturally white color.

He heard the door to his room open and close behind him but didn't bother to stop reading. It was obvious who it would be. Seconds later, his suspicions were confirmed when a pair of arms settled across his shoulders and the back of his neck while a chin came to rest on top of his head.

"Your brother, huh?" the person mused.

"Hey, Jay."

"That's niiice. I wish my brother would write me."

"It might help if your brother knew where to write _to_."

Jackson took his chin off of Alex's head and reached around to snatch up the letter.

"Jay!" Alex tried to snatch it back, but his friend danced away from the desk and out of reach. Now that Alex got a good look, he could tell that Jackson wasn't quite steady on his feet. "You're drunk."

"You shoulda joined us." Jackson waved the letter tauntingly. "It was a lot more fun than sitting around studying."

"Speaking of which," Alex stood up from the desk, "I've got everything ready for when you're sober. Think you'll be clear-headed by midnight?"

Jackson blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. Sorry."

"Whatever." Alex held out a hand to Jackson, who returned the letter with an appropriately penitent expression. Alex folded it carefully and went to place it in one of the desk's drawers. "I'm going out for a bit. Should I put out the fire or would you like to make yourself at home?"

Jackson shrugged. "I won't be using it."

With a wave of his hand, Alex dismissed the flames. It was as simple as snuffing out a candle. He opened the door and held it open for Jackson to depart through first. He exited too, pulled out a small key, twisted it in the lock, and addressed his friend one more time.

"Midnight, then?"

"Yes. Sure."

"Alright. Then I'll see you later tonight." Alex turned away and headed for the nearest staircase, eventually making his way outside. Within half an hour, he had departed the vicinity of the Clock Tower and found his way into an area frequented by people who had never dreamed that magic could be real. Because of his unusual hair color, he got many strange looks, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be. Young people were dying their hair outrageous colors all the time nowadays… the main thing was avoiding letting anyone notice his eyes. Consequently, he kept his head bowed until he reached a small, out-of-the-way café and stepped into an environment where none of the patrons particularly cared about any of the other patrons. The only ones to look up when he stepped inside were two servers standing behind the counter.

"Medium black," he told them, passing by the counter and heading towards one of the more isolated tables in a back corner of the shop. He sat down, and not long after one of the servers came with a cup of black coffee. She set it down, took the money he gave her, and whisked away without comment.

He sipped on his coffee and waited, keeping his eyes down on the table and resisting the urge to look around for the person he was supposed to be meeting. The letter he'd burned had specified that the person would find him; not the other way around. And so he waited, not looking up even when he heard the café door open and close.

"Alexander Scott?"

The person who eventually came up to his table did not sit down, forcing Alex to look up at him. To Alex's surprise, it was an Asian male, looking to be in his late teens or early twenties—much like Alex and Jackson. The man sported a stylish white jacket over a blue t-shirt, complimented by a long orange scarf wrapped about his neck.

"Yes?"

The man turned and nodded, and Alex saw a petite figure walk across the room to join them. Unusually, she was wearing a cloak with the hood up. When she sat across from Alex he had to do a double-take. Beneath the hood he saw that the woman had features just like his, from the pale skin and hair to the ruby-colored eyes.

"My name is Aryasviel von Einbern. This is my bodyguard, Soya Muto." She gestured to the Asian man, who nodded. "It's wonderful to finally meet you, brother."

* * *

The next day, Jackson Johns finally awoke around noon. The previous night had drained him, both physically and mentally, but the results had been well worth it. In spite of seeming a bit distracted, Alex had pulled through on his promise of getting all the preparations for their experiment taken care of. They were able to combine their magic—Alex's alchemy and Jackson's more unique brand of sorcery—in order to create the object that now hung on a necklace around Jackson's neck. They called it the Genome Pendant.

As far as Jackson was concerned, the little drill-shaped object was a success. It was made of a virtually indestructible alchemic alloy, and the shape and magic it had been infused with allowed Jackson to channel prana through it and manipulate the environment around him in a very particular way. Jackson's origin, the spiral, had been a subject of study for him and Alex since before they'd been extended an invitation to the Clock Tower. Alex's research into using spirals in magic circles in order to amplify their effects had proven fruitful, and the Genome Pendant was the amalgamation of their work thus far. It was still just a prototype and would need extensive testing, but Jackson was optimistic for what it would be able to do.

He crawled out of bed, went to the bathroom to wash his face, threw on a shirt, and stepped across the hall to Alex's room. Finding the door locked he knocked on it softly, and when that failed to get a response he pulled the new pendant over his head and held the little drill up next to the lock. The lock clicked when he gave the drill a twist, making Jackson smile. It was a trivial test, but it still felt good to see some results.

He found Alex's room like it usually was, slightly messy but with the bed made for once. It seemed Alex had gone out.

He walked to the desk and saw a short message addressed to him, written on a notepad.

_Jay,_

_I'm afraid I probably won't be seeing you for a few weeks. The Einzberns have a project for me that I couldn't really say "no" to._

_I'm glad the pendant came out well. See what you can do with it! I'm not going to leave you any contact information just yet, but I'll write to you when the chance comes up. Take care of yourself… don't do anything stupid, okay?_

_Love,_

_Alex_

"A few weeks and he doesn't even say where he's going?" Jackson ripped the message out of the notepad and crumpled it up, tossing it at the wastebasket. To his irritation, it bounced of the wastebasket's rim and onto the floor. Grumbling, he stooped to pick it up… and that's when another piece of paper that was already in the basket caught his eye. He threw Alex's note away but pulled this piece of paper out instead, smoothing it out on the desk.

Alex had a tendency to do a lot of scratch-work when writing out alchemical equations and drawing diagrams for things like magic circles. Jackson had seen part of a magic circle on this piece of paper and had half-expected it to be the circle they'd used for making the Genome Pendant, but it wasn't. It was large and intricate, and calculations crowded the margins of the paper where Alex had attempted to figure out how to adjust the magic circle so as to incorporate a spiral. Below the circle was a hastily scrawled incantation, and below that the name "Fuyuki."

"You're pretty careless sometimes," Jackson said, rolling up the paper and taking it with him as he returned to the hallway.

By afternoon of the next day, he was on an airplane heading to Japan.


	3. 2: Demon in the Moonlight

Chapter 2: Demon in the Moonlight

Looking in the bathroom mirror, Misa Amane knew her days were numbered. Why this was she couldn't remember, but she could feel it in her bones. She was young still, she _looked_ young. Her blonde hair was bright and cut cutely, her skin glowed with healthy color, and there wasn't a wrinkle on her face to speak of. She felt that she hadn't lived very long, and indeed that time felt shorter since large parts of her memory were missing. But she didn't _feel_ young. For some reason, her eyesight was fading. She could still see well most of the time, but sometimes when she woke up in the mornings her vision was so cloudy that she would find it easier to move around with her eyes closed than open. Even now, she could see in the mirror how they were becoming dull and grey.

She felt weaker every day, too. If it hadn't been for the magus who found her and discovered her talent for the magic arts, she probably would have already died. The magi had ways to sustain fading life. An apple a day… a strange, dry, black apple…

Officially, she was dead. The Association had seen to that. After all, there was no point in keeping track of someone who was dead. She had been told that before her "death" someone had been watching her because of her suspected connections to Kira.

Kira… where had Kira disappeared to, after coming so close to creating the perfect world? Where was her Light?

What exactly lie beyond life, in the realm of death? Would she find solace there? She only clung to this world because of the promise the magus had given her. She would be able to be with Light again if only she could obtain the Holy Grail.

Deciding to neglect putting on makeup after all—why bother, when she was confined to this lonely, unfamiliar apartment?—Misa left the bathroom and went to grab something to eat from the kitchen. She ignored the black apples on the counter, and the more colorful bowl of fruit next to it, instead taking a cup of instant noodles from the cupboard and moving to put the kettle on.

After she had the water heating, she turned around and saw something that gave her pause. In front of the fruit on the counter there lay a black notebook. That certainly hadn't been there when she woke up this morning. Its appearance should have been ominous… but then why did she feel drawn to it, rather than repulsed?

Slowly she glided across the kitchen floor towards it, and even more slowly lifted her hand towards its black cover upon which were written the English words "DEATH NOTE."

Her fingers brushed across the cover, and the memories she had so long missed returned to her in a wave.

Next to her, a hand with long, inhuman fingers reached towards a red apple in the brightly colored bowl of fruit.

"You can't eat that one, Ryuuk," she said, turning to the massive humanoid creature known as a shingami; a god of death. "It's wax."

* * *

Rin met Rider outside of the Emiya residence the morning after her arrival in Japan. It was a picturesque scene: the cherry blossoms were in bloom, and Rider, beautiful and ageless, stood beneath them. A light breeze stirred, playing with the ends of the Servant's purple hair. However, Rider's business-like attitude made it clear that this was not a pleasure visit like the one Rin had made a year ago. The Servant's yellow turtleneck brought out the yellow of her eyes, and even behind her glasses those eyes seemed to generate magical pressure. Rin however, was used to it by now.

Rin made note of the lack of any signs of life in the Japanese-style mansion where Shirou, Sakura and Rider lived. If everything had gone as planned, the Emiyas would be enjoying an extended stay in one of the neighboring cities, well out of the way of the approaching War.

"Sakura understands the situation? You're sure she'll be able to keep Shirou away from Fuyuki?"

Rider nodded. Rin had to accept her conviction. Shirou was still Shirou, in spite of his artificial body and its limits. She couldn't trust him to be in Fuyuki when the War resumed. This time, it would be Rider who acted as her partner. Though she had no official authority over the Servant, Sakura was on Rin's side. Rider would help so long as that was Sakura's desire.

"And the barrier?" Rin inquired.

"Disabled, as requested."

This time it was Rin who nodded. Rudimentary as it was, the Emiya household had a simple barrier over it that had been there since the time of Shirou's late father, Kiritsugu. Not wanting the household to be used by any other magi, Rin had asked Rider to remove the barrier. Their base would be at the Tohsaka family mansion, and she didn't want any enemy magi taking advantage of Shirou and Sakura's empty house.

Rin's family home was located in the older, residential side of Fuyuki just like Shirou's was. However, while the Emiya household was in the part of the district consisting of Japanese-style houses, hers was in an area where Western-style held prominence. It was therefore not a short walk to get there, but not so long that Rin had thoughts of bothering to call for a taxi. Besides, she felt nostalgia for the sites a walk would offer, and the weather was perfect for walking. The War had not started yet, but even if adversaries had started to gather she had Rider at her side.

Which reminded her…

As they climbed up a gentle hill, walking along the petal-strewn sidewalk, Rin broke the mutual silence held between her and Rider.

"Even though this Grail War is an anomaly, we can expect another Rider to be summoned," she stated. "Continuing to call you 'Rider' could be a problem. What do you think of using a different name?"

Rider pushed her hair back behind her ear. "I've been using 'Yusa' for public appearances since coming to live here. You didn't think I was confined to the house all these years, did you?"

Rin nodded. The name Yusa seemed to fit Rider well enough. After all, calling her by her true name—_Medusa_—would be more disadvantageous than continuing to call her Rider would be. Knowledge of a Servant's identity meant knowledge of that Servant's weaknesses, something they didn't yet have the luxury to afford.

In due time, they arrived outside the gate of the Tohsaka mansion. The gate swung open as Rin approached, as though welcoming the master of the house back after a long time away. The front garden was overrun with weeds, the path to the door hadn't been swept in some time, but even so the mansion itself looked well-preserved.

Preserved, but not cared for. Rin made sure that it got a thorough inspection and cleaning every few years, but that was it. No one had lived here in a long time. However, the barriers surrounding the mansion were still present, and though she sensed that some needed reinforcement, she knew that this was a powerful stronghold from which she could fight in the War.

Rider followed her up to the front door, at which point Rin pulled a key from her pocket and inserted it into the heavy lock. The lock was stiff, but a little effort in turning the key made it click, and Rin opened the door and stepped into a familiar entrance hall completely devoid of the decorations it once boasted. Sheets covered the few pieces of furniture in the hall, and Rin knew that the rest of the rooms would look similar. It was still a house, and a grand one. But it was no longer a home.

"We'll begin preparations for the summoning," Rin told Rider after the Servant closed the door behind her. "After you have done what I need you to, I'd like you to scout the city and see if you can find anything worth mentioning. Luvia should arrive tonight. It'd be helpful if you could go greet her so that I don't have to."

Rider—Yusa, Rin reminded herself—gave an affirmative response.

"Well then." Rin reached into the neck of her shirt and drew out a necklace that had been out of site until then. On the end of the necklace was a round, red jewel. "Let's see what kind of Servant the artifact you gave me can summon, Master Zeltretch."

* * *

"—inn, Fuyuki."

Kagome Higurashi almost missed him saying it, but she did hear it, and when she looked for the source of the voice she saw a young, bespectacled man in his late teens or early twenties getting ready to climb into a taxi's back seat. She dragged her suitcase along behind her and quickly ran up to him. Night was falling, and she wanted to reach her destination before it became very late.

"Excuse me, did you say you were going to Fuyuki? Is there any chance I could ride with you so that we can split the fare?"

"I'm sorry?" The man blinked up at her in confusion. Now that she had a chance to look at him and notice his accent, she could tell he was a foreigner.

She repeated herself, more slowly, and used gestures to help demonstrate what she wanted. Understanding seemed to dawn on him and he nodded.

"Yes, I appreciate it."

The driver got out to help her put her luggage in the trunk and she joined the young man in the back seat. Moments later, the taxi pulled away from the curb and into the street.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi." She held out a hand to her impromptu traveling companion and he took it.

"Jackson Johns, a pleasure."

"The pleasure is mine. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

"England, though I grew up in America. I'm visiting… a friend."

Kagome smiled. "Well, I hope you enjoy your stay and get the chance to visit some of the sites Japan has to offer. Fuyuki is a nice city, but not exactly a vacation hotspot."

He smiled good-naturedly and they let the conversation die away there. As she gazed out the window at the rising full moon, she fingered her wedding ring. It had been over two weeks since the path through the well had inexplicably ceased to function. Over two weeks since she'd last seen Inuyasha. She had accepted, for the time, that she would have to have patience in uncovering a solution. No doubt her husband and friends on the other side of the well were working on a solution, themselves. In the meantime, she had other tasks to accomplish in the modern world, having become a renowned exorcist.

The modern era was nothing like the feudal one. Demons were far from plentiful, but they still existed, and there were cases of latent magic in various shrines and artifacts causing problems for the people who came into contact with them. This time she had received a call about a demon in Fuyuki. She had never been to the city before, but she had vague memories of it featuring on news broadcasts for awhile when she was younger. What had that uproar been about? Gas explosions?

An hour and half of the taxi fare later, Kagome walked with Jackson into a small inn near Fuyuki Station. They signed in to separate rooms and offered each other luck in their respective business, but after dropping off her luggage and taking a few essential items from her suitcase—including a long, thin case in which she carried her bow and arrows—Kagome left her room once more and headed back out of the inn and onto the city sidewalks.

If she remembered correctly, the caller had said the demon most frequented the older district of Fuyuki, across the river. It was quite a distance to walk, but the moon made Kagome feel restless, and she set her feet in that direction anyways.

As she came closer to the big bridge that connected the two halves of the city, she found fewer and fewer people out and about. There was strange heaviness that seemed to be growing in the air. She felt uncomfortable, but she had come to trust her senses. Even if it was nothing, there was nothing wrong with caution. She quietly drew two slips of paper, cut to resemble a simplified human outline, from her pocket and tossed them into the air. Around the paper materialized two young girls dressed in kimonos, who bowed to her in greeting.

"Kochou, Asuka. It's been awhile since I've summoned you."

"And in the modern era, no less," the one in the blue kimono noted. The one in the yellow kimono gazed out at the nearby bridge.

"Something is amiss that way, Mistress?"

"I'm not sure. It may be nothing, but the job I'm here for is to exorcise something on the other side of the bridge. I was going to go see if I could notice anything and I thought you two might be able to help me."

"Understood." This time, the girls spoke simultaneously.

And so they began to cross the bridge together, and as they progressed near its center the unease Kagome felt grew stronger. She could feel it now… it wasn't quite the same aura that she was familiar with, but she thought she may already be nearing the demon.

Yet when they passed the halfway point the aura began to lessen in intensity, and she hadn't encountered anything. That was, until she felt a rapid increase in demonic pressure and heard something land with a soft thump and clink of metal behind her.

It had been above, on top of the trusses over the bridge. Kagome spun around and saw a blindfolded woman with purple hair, dressed in black. The woman held two nail-like daggers attached to chains.

The aura emitting from this woman felt on par with the aura emitted by Naraku.

"Kochou, Asuka," Kagome called, and the two girls—her shikigami—stepped in front of her and erected a barrier. Kagome quickly opened the case containing her bow and quiver and swung the latter over her back.

"Interesting familiars," the purple-haired demon told her. "But if you're using them you must not have a servant yet. That's good. I'll spare your life, and simply take your hand so that you won't have a chance of obtaining command seals.

The demon prepared her dagger and attacked the barrier, once, twice, three times. The attacks were so fast that Kagome only managed to finish stringing her bow by the fourth blow, at which point the barrier shattered and Kochou burst apart as the dagger went through her, too.

"Mistress!" Asuka managed to bring up a new barrier as Kagome knocked an arrow. Why was the back of her hand burning? She channeled her spiritual energy into the arrow as Asuka's barrier shattered under a single hit and she too burst apart.

Kagome released the arrow. The demon, sensing her danger too late, tried to dodge but ended up with the shaft embedded in her shoulder in spite of her unnaturally fast movements. She grimaced and Kagome was able to back away and prepare a second arrow, but the damage done to the demon was far too little. Unless something happened, Kagome would die.

She squeezed her eyes together and screamed. "_INUYASHA!_"

She felt the demon's aura surge. There was a flash of light that even her eyelids couldn't keep out, and the back of her right hand felt like it was being clawed open. She heard the sound of metal clashing, and opened her eyes once more, just in time to see the demon shoved back by a silver-haired man wielding a massive, fang-like sword.

Inuyasha glanced back at her. "Fire the arrow!"

Kagome only hesitated long enough to realign her shot, and then fired past Inuyasha and at the purlple-haired demon once more.

The demon jumped back, knocking away the arrow with one of her daggers, and then she seemed to fade away into the darkness. Her aura disappeared with her.

"I don't think I really have to ask this, but you're the one who summoned me, right Kagome?" He lifted his massive sword and slid it cleanly into a sheath that should have been far too small for it.

The long, silver hair. The dog ears on the top of his head. The red robes of the fire rat. The necklace around his neck and the ring on his left finger which matched her own…

"Inuyasha…" Kagome threw herself into her husband, neither knowing or caring how he had returned to her. The only think she cared about was that he was there.

"Master," Inuyasha whispered.

* * *

As light engulfed the summoning circle, hidden deep within the Tohsaka mansion, a mechanical voice projected out from the jewel at the circle's center.

"_Standby Ready_."

The jewel levitated into the air, and around it materialized a bright staff with the jewel at the center of its head. Next, a shining silhouette came into being, and when it grabbed the staff there was a pulse of magic and light. Rin was forced to shield her eyes.

When she looked up again, a young woman dressed in white, with brown hair tied up in long twin tails, stood smiling before her. The jewel in the staff seemed to have grown bigger and glowed with a life of its own. Could this Servant be… Caster? Or perhaps even Rider?

"I ask of you… are you my Master?" The woman's voice was kind.

Rin took a deep, steadying breath. "Rin Tohsaka, veteran of the Fifth Grail War and head of the Tohsaka household. State your identity and class."

"Affirmative. I am a Servant from the future, so my name will be meaningless to you, but it is Nanoha Takamachi. My class is Archer.

"The contract is made. I look forward to working with you, Rin."


End file.
